In Newark, New Jersey, a large and deceptively nondescript building is redefining the Garden State, producing millions of pounds of food per year just outside of Manhattan. This 70,000 square foot facility has the equivalent yield of over 5 million square feet of traditional farmland. Inside, a year-round, closed-loop aeroponics system employs no pesticides and requires 95% less water than field farming. This branch of AeroFarms is not alone — it’s part of a food production revolution with projects ranging from at-home and in-store micro-farms to massive facilities set up in old factories and warehouses around the world.

Technically, vertical farming can be done outside, too, by stacking planters in natural sunlight, but indoor vertical farms offer a range of advantages. Inside, there are no seasons and specialized LED lights make it possible to grow plants continuously and cycle through various crops more easily. The controlled environment and standardization of these systems also makes automation easier. In Japan, approaches have gone predictably high-tech, with endeavors like the Vegetable Factory, which is operated entirely by robots.

Spatial containment makes recycling more efficient, mitigates spoilage and reduces the risk of diseases and pests spreading beyond a specific facility. Transportation costs and energy requirements are also reduced for farms that move into old factories and warehouses right in and around cities, putting them closer to consumers. Aeroponics in general also require less material input — mainly mist and air with minimal water and soil — leading to a lighter footprint.

What started in large and independent facilities has begun to spread into mainstream grocery stores and supermarkets, too. A few years back, Target started testing direct retail micro-farms, beginning with leafy greens before moving to tomatoes, peppers and more. Since these kinds of retail spaces are climate-controlled already for the sake of both shoppers and products, less added energy is required to maintain ideal conditions.

In Berlin, a company called INFARM recently partnered with local shops to provide similar in-store services, cutting down on farm-to-table distance right in the heart of a major European metropolis. Meanwhile, in Tokyo, vertical creepers, rice paddies and broccoli fields were integrated into the design of an otherwise Modern-looking office building, brightening up the place while also providing food for the employee cafeteria.

Taking vertical integration a step further, projects like the ReGen Villages aim to incorporate stacked farms directly into residential communities. It may sound impractical or even Utopian, but at its root the idea is relatively traditional: backyard gardens and community gardening are nothing new. Coupled with walkability and density, these kinds of green-centric towns have a lot in common with New Urbanist ideas that go back decades.

Still, it is generally wise to maintain a healthy skepticism when it comes to fresh green architectural trends and technologies and eye-catching renderings. Skyscrapers covered in greenery (or treescrapers), for instance, have proven to be popular but also problematic in practice (catchy conceptual earthscrapers, groundscrapers and sidescrapers, too, for that matter). Sometimes, more practical organic solutions are hiding in plain sight. Take wood, for instance, a historically popular green building material now finding new forms and reaching new heights in tall buildings around the world. Newer is not always better.

Some extreme vertical farming ideas may indeed prove to be far-fetched and unsustainable, but market movements suggest there is a future in these kinds of facilities and approaches. Investors are putting their money where people’s mouths are, buying up disused urban real estate and developing new indoor farming technologies. Already, vertical farming is a $2,000,000,000 industry and experts project it will grow as much as 30% per year over the next decade.

Vertical farms are of course not a complete solution to ongoing threats like climate change and mounting global food crises, but they do show promise — these endeavors are slowly breaking down urban and rural barriers, reconnecting cities with the food sources that sustain them and shortening that critical distance from farm to table.

Anyone who’s hoping some version of our species will manage to survive the coming climate crisis through transhumanism might be interested to learn about this recent breakthrough: a robotic contact lens that can zoom in on command. A team of research scientists at the University of California San Diego set out to explore ways that “soft robotics” (which mimic materials found in living organisms) can be integrated with human bodies, and this is one of their projects.

They’ve created a prototype contact lens controlled by movement of the eye, so the wearer can simply blink twice to zoom in or out. The biomimetic lenses are made of elastic polymer films designed to respond to electric signals generated by the eyes when they move. The lens itself mimics the biology of the human eye, with layers that expand or contract to change its thickness, altering the amount of light that passes through it.

This kind of technology isn’t entirely new; it’s similar to eye tracking technology that lets users control wheelchairs.

“Thanks to many unique features, soft robots or soft machines have been recently explored intensively to work collaboratively with human beings. Most of the previously developed soft robots are either controlled manually or by prewritten programs. In the current work, a novel human–machine interface is developed to use electrooculographic signals generated by eye movements to control the motions and the change of focal length of a biomimetic soft lens.”

“The motion and deformation of the soft lens are achieved by the actuation of different areas of dielectric elastomer films, mimicking the working mechanisms of the eyes of human and most mammals. The system developed in the current study has the potential to be used in visual prostheses, adjustable glasses, and remotely operated robotics in the future.”

So, how long will it be before a real-life version of the sci-fi “eyeshine” surgery from Chronicles of Riddick, which enables night vision, is a thing?

Top image: Niek Beck/Flickr CC by 2.0

Working with Formula 1 race car manufacturers and employing aerospace materials, a Swiss firm has developed what they claim is the world’s lightest wheelchair, with a frame weighing in at just 3.3 pounds.

Significantly lighter and stronger than typical high-performance carbon variants, Kueschall employed graphene (which can be hundreds of times stronger than steel and significantly tougher than diamond) to lighten the load while making the machine more durable.

“A single layer of carbon atoms, tightly bound in a hexagonal lattice” was at the heart of the engineering strategy. Why bother to make even lighter models? The firm points out that over half of wheelchair users end up with upper body damage over the years. Aside from the materials, “in order to ease these chances the wheels have been positioned in closer proximity to the user which helps to increase propelling efficiency.”

Industrial designer and project leader for the company, Andre Fangueiro, worked “to perfect the driving performance of the Superstar. The wheelchair features an X-shape geometry with road dampening properties that provides an increase in performance and agility by responding rapidly to every movement. It also features a bespoke backrest with the possibility for a tool less adjustment, and a tailor made seat with an integrated seat cushion to also help optimize propelling performance.”

All we wanted was flying cars and machines that clean up after us, and all we’ve gotten is a nightmare of dystopian privacy-shattering technology set against a hellscape of irreversible climate change. Welcome to the future! Humanoid robots can run and do backflips, you can’t tell the difference between an android and a human on the phone, video evidence can no longer be trusted, cops can find you among millions using facial recognition or DNA, and soon your employers might be able to read your thoughts. Wheee, this is fun!

Google’s AI Assistant Sounds Exactly Like a Human

‘Duplex’ is a highly unassuming name for a rather horrifying new piece of technology from Google. The experimental voice-based digital assistant service debuted at the company’s I/O conference last week, and at first, its roster of functions seemed ordinary enough. It can write emails automatically? Cool. It can make appointments for you? Great, who likes talking on the phone these days? But then the demonstration started. The assistant dialed up a hair salon and chatted with the receptionist in such a natural way, it’s almost impossible to tell it’s not human. The effect was so shocking and produced such an uproar on the internet, Google had to immediately release a statement that its AI voice would always identify itself to humans. Sure. If you say so.

Boston Dynamics Robots Can Now Run, Jump & Do Backflips

Hey, remember when we used to laugh about how all the weird faceless robots made by Boston Dynamics could barely remain in an upright position? Well, here’s an update. Some things have changed since the days of robots falling over all the time. For example, “the world’s most dynamic humanoid” Atlas can now run, jump and do backflips, feats impressive (and terrifying) enough to put the likes of Elon Musk on edge. One of the uses envisioned for Atlas in the future is on the front lines of war. Considering the rapid militarization of police forces in the United States, it’s not that far of a jump to imagine a RoboCop scenario spinning out of that.

This is nothing. In a few years, that bot will move so fast you’ll need a strobe light to see it. Sweet dreams… https://t.co/0MYNixQXMw

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 26, 2017

Meanwhile, the company’s dog-like Spot Mini is now capable of taking itself on walks, and it’s set to go on sale to the public in 2019. Why? It’s kind of unclear. The company doesn’t offer very many practical reasons to own a robot dog, which is not particularly cuddly, but it’s not hard to see how it would be a great way to get people more comfortable with this kind of tech, and allow more of it into our homes and lives.

Advances in Facial Recognition Technology

China’s police force is ahead of the game when it comes to propelling us all toward the dystopian future we fear. They’ve got some of the most advanced facial recognition surveillance in the world, with more than 170 million cameras installed around the country, and they use it for ‘crimes’ as minor as jaywalking. In a recent demonstration, a BBC reporter’s headshot was uploaded into the system to show just how quickly the cops could find him in a city of 4.3 million. It took seven minutes. Just a few weeks ago, a suspect wanted for ‘economic crimes’ was found by cameras at a concert surrounded by 60,000 people. But it’s not just the po-po that want to put this technology to use. Among lots of other insidious invasions, like embeddable implants, it’s being touted as a convenient way to avoid carrying paper or even phones. Ticketmaster is working with a facial recognition company called Blink Identity to associate facial data with tickets for seamless concert entry, drink purchases, VIP area entry and more. There’s definitely no way that can go wrong.

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Welcome To The Future 6 Creepy Advances In Potentially Dystopian Technology

Central yet unused, the central median of New York City’s Park Avenue is the subject of a series of spectacular and speculative redesigns — from rock-climbing walls and waterfalls to kayak commuter lanes — thanks to a creative ideas competition.

Participating architects, designers and planners were given free reign to re-imagine this major thoroughfare spanning across Manhattan, and took that liberty to heart. Their pitches for Beyond the Centerline, organized by an NYC real estate company, are largely quite extreme.

Among other ideas, short-listed contestants offered up images of ice-skating rinks, elevated basketball courts, yoga studies and Modernist art exhibition spaces. Some are fun and others functional, offering alternative ways to commute by boat, for instance.

Some are focused on greening the dense city, creating space for landscapes and natural environments to break up the loud and busy car-filled route. A few even suggest incorporating forest habitats for urban wildlife. Many of the proposals are vertical in nature, seeking to maximize the small footprint offered by introducing shops, cafes, markets, theaters and other above-ground and underground amenities.

“While Park Avenue, with its median plantings and periodic art installations, remains one of the world’s most iconic commercial boulevards, I have long believed that we can and must be far more imaginative in how we encounter and utilize such a precious urban commodity,” said the contest creators. “Our hope is that this contest and these proposals will spark a real conversation about what can be done to activate Park Avenue’s center line for a new generation of New Yorkers.” Winners will receive up to $25,000 for their creative work, and while it may never be built, hopefully it can at least get people thinking about how to develop underutilized space in cities.